Musical Saturday: An American in Paris[1951]

I saw An American in Paris at the British Film Institute on a cold end-of-October day and it brighten up my day! It was such a pleasure seeing it, after endless dramas at the London Film Festival before (which I enjoyed also, but in a different way).

The movie tells the story of Jerry Mulligan, a struggling American painter in Paris and his relationship with two wonderful women: Lisa(played by Leslie Caron) and Lilo(played by Nina Foch).

There were many beautiful aspects that I loved about this movie. The first scene, introducing the characters, which is rather atipical and simple; the description of Lisa by Henri, featuring the amazing Leslie Caron dancing in all of her splendor- she is very graceful; all of the costumes and the sets; the piano scene of Oscar Levant, showing us his talent in a dream sequence and many others.

Gene Kelly is probably one of the most charming men I have ever seen on screen. That, plus his dancing skills and the way he makes it seem so easy and enjoyable, you've got yourself an A start actor. He has believeable chemistry with both Leslie and Nina and smoothly switches from actor to dancer in each scene. The musical numbers were sweet, but not very memorable (like the ones in West Side Story, for example), and the final dancing scene stretches a bit too long, but all is forgiven just for that shot of him and Leslie on the yellow, glowing background and the intro/outro editing. Beautiful!

I found myself smiling my way through the movie and it was, like I said, very enjoyable! It's a classic and you should see it!

2 in 1 post!

Hey guys,

So lately I have been going to a lot of movies and I have a rather poor bank account to prove it (tickets+transportation+Coca Cola each time, not a good idea).

Instead of doing 2 different posts, I decided to do a short one, as the movies I saw didn't really give the inspiration to dedicate an entire post for each one!

Thursday, with the help of Time Out Magazine, I got into a screening of Miss Bala, a mexican drama about a woman who wants to be a beauty pageant queen, but gets mixed up with the wrong people just by being in the wrong place at the wrong time. It is a very action based movie, with raw, violent scenes that look and feel real. The leading lady, Stephanie Sigman, offers a very good performance (considering it's her first), taking us to through hard times with believeable reactions. Although I loved the movie and felt that it delivered something new to the cinema, I left the theater thinking the pace was always the same. A goes to B goes to C the end. Yes, the scenes were real and her reactions matched that, but I would have liked more from it, just something to raise my pulse a little bit! Oh...and the movies is based on a true story! You should check it out if you have the chance!

Friday, it was time to see Ides of March! First of all, I don't get the title...I should google it (Did that, now I see)! Second of all, I really enjoyed myself! I thought it was a very smart movie, very alert movie, with good performances and correct direction (I am saying that just because, out of all of the movies I saw recently, this seemed like a normal, nice one, with usual shots, nothing exciting in this department, but still very good). I don't know if it's good or bad, but considering the movie had Gosling and Clooney in it, you can imagine my surprise when I realised the best performance was given by Paul Giamatti (strictly my opinion). Don't get me wrong, all of the cast is good (Hoffman, Wood, Tomei, Max Mingella etc), but I loved him; Ryan Gosling and George Clooney played it safe, and I would be surprised if they get a nomination for this. Actually, thinking about it, Gosling delivered a strong performance, but can it top the one in Drive?No. The best part of the movie was the script: I loved the pace of it, the twists, the dialogue, the feel of it! One of the best big Hollywood movies I have seen recently! All in all, a very good movie you should watch!

Extra one: Saturday, I went old-school and watched An American in Paris at the British Film Institute, in one of the most beautiful cinema theaters I have ever seen! I won't review it now, instead it will be safe in my movie jar for when I'll do a musical week...if you are interested! :)

The machine that kills bad people[1948] + A trip to the moon[1902]

My first experience at the London Film Festival was wonderful! It all started when I walked into the NFT1 room in the BFI, which is probably one of the most beautiful theaters in the world (everything was impeccable, clean, very well arranged, big red curtains and comfortable seats). After that, at precisely 15:30 two gentlemen introduced the movie and then it was time to see the extra part of the experience- Trip to the moon, the 1902 silent film of Meliers, in COLOR! As I was not familiar to the genre, I was looking forward to the film that was restored this year by a Spanish organization. It was very interesting and you can see the parts that were originally colored and the ones that were digital, but still, it had an amazing quality to it. The story centers around 6 men who go to the moon; first, they prepare, then they leave in a special capsule; have their adventure  on the Moon and then they are forced to come back! The actual adventure is a little weird and creepy and it might be one of the first signs of science-fiction in a movie, but still, very well done for that period of time. An interesting twist to it was the fact that it had a soundtrack, to say so, and that was the music of Air, who fitted perfectly to the story!

On to The machine that kills bad people! This rarely-seen film of Robert Rossellini was a very pleasant surprise! I loved it and if you have a chance to see at a festival, please do! They reminded us that it was considered to be a lost film and that they put a lot of work into it- and it is worth it! The story is pretty simple: a man discovers (with the help of a certain character that will be revealed at the end) that his photographic machine can kill the people it photographs. So, for example, if he would photograph a picture of his cat, the animal, in real time, would take the exact position in the picture and die. Now, I know, it might sound creepy and stupid, but trust me, it was a very delightful, playful and funny film, with a special meaning to the story! I can't really explain everything that was shown without giving away too much, but I can advise you to look out for it! It was a special experience for me and I will remember it!

Tomorrow I will try to get in to see either Shame or 50/50, so look out for the review on Sunday morning!

Hope you enjoyed it!